Indonesia

Copyright

Copyright means the exclusive right of an author or a Copyright holder to publish or reproduce their work. This right is granted automatically following creation of the work. The kinds of works protected by Copyrights law in Indonesia are in the field of science, arts and literature which principally includes:

books, computer programmes, pamphlets, visual aids made for educational and scientific purposes, typographical arrangements, lecturers, addresses, and all other written or spoken works

songs or music with or without lyrics, dramas, musical dramas, dances, choreographic works, puppet shows, pantomimes

all forms of art, such as paintings, drawings, engravings, calligraphy, carvings, sculptures, college, and applied arts, as well as architecture and maps

photography and cinematographic works

translations, interpretations, adaptations, anthologies, databases and other similar works

Copyright arises automatically after a work is created in a material form such as in writing, video, audio, etc. Copyright is not required to be recorded in order to have it protected, however, many small businesses operating in Indonesia choose to record copyright as proof of ownership. Indonesia is party to the Berne Convention on the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (see more details and a full list of members here), so the works SMEs already own are automatically protected in Indonesia if the creator of the work is a national of one of the other Berne Convention member countries, or if the work was first published in a member country of the Berne Convention.

‘Moral rights’ as rights granted to authors to ensure they receive the appropriate recognition as a writer on the results of their work, so that they maintain the integrity of the creation are recognised in Indonesia under the Copyright Law. Several similar rights related to copyright include rights in performances, phonographic works, sound recordings and broadcast. The results of such work may not be reproduced or showcased in public without permission.

Once the application has been filed with The Directorate of Intellectual Property (“DGIP”) and all formalities complied with, the Indonesian Copyright Office records the copyright and issues a certificate of recordal

Duration of Protection

The term for copyright protection varies depending on the nature of the work. In Indonesia, copyright generally lasts for the duration of the author’s lifetime and seventy (70) years after his death (it was fifty (50) years before the new Copyright Law). In relation to computer programmes, cinematographic and photographic works, databases and adaptations, copyright lasts for fifty (50) years from the date of first publication. Performing rights and recording rights last for fifty (50) years from date of performance or production, and broadcasting rights for twenty (20) years from date of first broadcast.

Industrial Designs

An industrial design means a creation on the shape, configuration, or the composition of lines or colours, or lines and colours, or the combination thereof in a three or two dimensional from which gives aesthetic appearances and can be realized in a three- or two-dimensional pattern and used to produce a product, good or an industrial commodity and handy craft.

Protectable Industrial Designs

In order to be accepted for registration, the design has to be new. Industrial Design applications in Indonesia should be registered with the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights. An application takes about twenty-four (24) months to thirty-six (36) months to be granted.

The most important requirement for design registration is novelty. Novelty is ascertained through an examination process, in which the design is compared with other prior arts. However, the novelty of a design shall not be lost if in a period of maximum six (6) months before filing date, the design has been exhibited in an official exhibition (national or international) and/or has been used for the purpose of education, research and development. The examiner may raise objection if they believe that the design is a ‘common-place’ design with no distinctive features, but arguments may be filed to overcome such objections

Non-Protectable Industrial Designs

Designs that are contrary to the prevailing laws and regulations, public order, religion, or morality cannot be registered in Indonesia.

Granting Process

An application shall be made to the Directorate General of Intellectual Property. One application should cover one design or a series of derivative designs from a single design.

A completed application will be published for three months from its filing date. During publication, any party may file an opposition against the application and the applicant has the right to file a counter-statement against the opposition, within three (3) months after the date of notification of incoming opposition from the Directorate General. A substantive examination shall only be conducted if there is an opposition against the application. The decision whether an opposition is registered or not shall be issued within a period of maximum six (6) months after the expiration of the publication period.

Once the application passes the examination, it will be published for opposition. Where no opposition is filed during the mandatory three (3) month period, the certificate of registration will be granted.

Duration of Protection

Industrial Design registrations last for ten (10) years from the filing date

Patent

A patent is a right granted to the owner of an invention to prevent others from making, using, importing or selling the invention without his permission. A patent may be obtained for a product or a process that gives a new technical solution to a problem or a new method of doing things, the composition of a new product, or a technical improvement on how certain objects work.

Indonesia adopts a ‘first-to–file’ patent system, meaning that the first person to file an IP right in the Indonesian jurisdiction will own that right once the application is granted.

Two types of patent are recognised in Indonesia –

Standard Patents (for products and processes)
Simple Patents (for products only)

The process for obtaining a Simple Patent is supposed to be shorter, however, there is a reduced term of protection. For all applications, applicants need to specify the scope of the protection sought and to explain how to work the invention by means of technical descriptions and drawings.

Patentable Inventions

A patent shall be granted to an invention, which is novel, involves inventive steps and is capable of industrial application.
An invention is deemed to be novel, if at the date of filing of the application said invention is not the same with any previous technological disclosure.
An invention involves inventive steps if the said invention does not constitute something that is obvious to a person who possesses average technical skills.
The evaluation of whether or not an invention constitutes something that is obvious must take into account the state of art at the time the application is filed or which has existed at the time the first application was filed on the basis of a Priority Right.

Non-Patentable Patents

Any process or product that contravenes the prevailing rules and regulations, religious morality, public order, or ethics
Methods of examination, treatment, medication, and/or surgery applied to humans and /or animal
Discoveries or scientific theories
Mathematical formulae
Living creatures (excluding micro-organisms)
Biological processes for reproduction of plants and animals (excluding microbiological processes).

Granting Procedure

Patent applications in Indonesia should be registered with the Directorate General of Intellectual Property. Simple Patents can take about two (2) to three (3) years. Standard Patents are more likely to take three (3) to five (5) years from filing in Indonesia.

Once an application for a Standard Patent has been filed with the Patents Office, and formalities met, it will be published in the Official Gazette. Publication takes place within eighteen (18) months or more after the filing date, or the ‘priority date’ if the same filing has been made within the last twelve (12) months in any other country also belonging to the Paris Convention. Any party may file an opposition within six (6) months of the date of publication. Then the application will proceed to ‘substantive examination’, provided a specific request by the applicant is made to the Patents Office within thirty-six (36) months of the date of filing.

As a Convention country, applicants can claim the ‘priority date’ of a previous application in a member county up to 12 months after this initial application has been made.

In the case of a Simple Patent, the application will be published three (3) months or more after the date of filing. There will be examination following publication.

Protection Duration

Standard Patent – granted for twenty (20) years from the filing date.
Simple Patent – lasts for ten (10) years from the filing date.

Yearly payments must be made after grant to keep the patent valid. Protection period for both Standard Patent and Simple Patent cannot be extended.

Trademark

Mark is a sign that can be displayed graphically in the form of an image, logo, name, word, letter, number, color arrangement, in the form of 2 dimensions and / or 3 dimensions, sound, hologram, or a combination of 2 or more of these elements to distinguish goods and / or services produced by persons or legal entities in trading activities of goods and / or services.

The Indonesian trademark system is generally understood to adopt the ‘first-to–file’ system. It is especially important to register a trademark in Indonesia because trademark piracy due to ‘bad-faith’ registration is a serious problem. Bad-faith registrations exist where a third party (not the legitimate owner of the mark) registers the mark first in Indonesia, thereby preventing the legitimate owner from registering it. This is very common also in the case of ‘well-known’ trademarks. In such a case however, companies may be able to apply to the Indonesia courts to cancel the unauthorised registration.

Registration Process

Trademarks are registered with the Trademark Office (TMO). A mark may be registered by a person, by several people jointly, or by a company. The International Classification of Goods and Services sets out the fourty-five (45) classes of goods and services in relation to which marks can be registered, and therefore you will need to specify the particular goods or services in relation to which you wish to register.

Once an application is filed, the TMO examines it to check that all formalities have been complied with, and that there are no prior conflicting marks. If objections are raised, the TMO will issue a letter and the applicant then has thirty (30) days in which to respond. If the application is accepted by the TMO, it will be published in the Government Gazette. At any time within three (3) months of publication, an opposition by third parties can be filed on various grounds, including similarity of the mark to prior registered marks. If no opposition is raised, the TMO will issue a registration certificate. It usually takes three (3) years for the registration certificate to be issued.

Duration of Protection

Once registered, a trademark is protected in Indonesia for ten (10) years from the date of filing. The registration can be renewed for subsequent periods of ten (10) years without limit. Applications for renewal can be filed up to twelve (12) months before expiry of the current registration period, but not after this period.

Geographical Indication

Geographical Indication is a sign which indicates the place of origin of goods, which due to its geographical environment factors, including the factor of the nature, the people or the combination of the two factors, gives a specific characteristics and quality on the goods produced.

In Indonesia, Geographical Indications are protected under the Trademark Law. As such, many trademark registration procedure, such as publication and appeal, applies mutatis mutandis for Geographical Indications registrations. Foreign Geographical Indication applications should be acknowledged and/or registered in accordance with the prevailing regulation in its country of origin before it can be registered in Indonesia.

Geographical Indication Registration Process

Documents required for a Geographical Indication application are as follows:

name of the applicant’s institution;
name of the applicant’s proxy (which must be a registered intellectual property consultant);
applicant’s diplomatic representative (for foreign applicants);
name of the Geographical Indication;
type of products to be registered as a Geographical Indication;
ten Geographical Indication labels;
a book of requirements;
a specific power of attorney; and
an abstract of the qualification’s books

One of the main requirements to register a Geographical Indication is a book of requirement, which a document containing information about the quality and characteristics of the goods which can be used to distinguish the goods of the other goods that have the same category.

Duration of Protection

Legal protection for Geographical Indications in Indonesia last indefinitely as long as the features and/ or the quality on which the protection has been granted still exists.